{"id":8736,"date":"2022-06-08T10:49:50","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T10:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=8736"},"modified":"2022-06-08T10:49:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T10:49:50","slug":"apc-primary-tinubu-in-early-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=8736","title":{"rendered":"APC Primary: Tinubu In Early Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, is leading in the ongoing presidential primary of the party in Abuja.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tinubu won 10 of the 10 boxes sorted so far, obtaining over 750 votes.<\/span><\/p>\n

He is trailed by former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Amaechi has obtained 143 votes, Osinbajo polled 103 so far.<\/span><\/p>\n

The winner is expected to be declared in a few hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fourteen aspirants in the race are Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajuba, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mr Ahmed Rufai, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Mr Jack Rich, Gov. Ben Ayade, Gov. David Umuahi, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Sen. Ahmed Yarima, Dr Ahmed Lawal, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Gov. Yahaya Bello and Mr Ogbonnaya Onu.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nine aspirants had earlier withdrawn from the race including Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohnenye, Dr Felix Nicholas, former Gov. Godswill Akpabio, former Gov. Ibikunle Amosun, former Speaker Dimeji Bankole, Sen. Ajayi Boroffice, Gov. Muhammad Badaru, Sen. Ken Nnamani and Gov. Kayode Fayemi.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has hailed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as counting and sorting are underway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPYO you remain my hero for life. Congratulations to everyone who has been part of this movement. God bless you all and may we not trade our nation away as some did yesterday,\u201d Ojodu said.<\/span><\/p>\n

A total of 2,260 delegates of the All Progressives Congress voted at the ongoing party\u2019s Presidential Primary at Eagle Square, Abuja.<\/span><\/p>\n

The total rundown of states and their respective accredited delegates are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

Abia \u2013 50; Adamawa- 62; Anambra- 63; Bayelsa- 24; Bauchi- 55; Benue- 64; Borno- 81; Cross River- 54; Delta- 73; Enugu- 51; Ekiti- 48; Edo- 54; Ebonyi- 38; FCT- 80.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others are Gombe- 33; Imo- 81; Jigawa- 81; Lagos- 60; Plateau- 51; Katsina- 102; Kebbi- 63; Kwara- 48; Kogi- 63; Kaduna- 61; Kano- 126; Nasarawa- 39; Niger- 75; Ondo- 54; Ogun- 60; Oyo- 99; Osun- 90; Rivers- 69; Sokoto- 69; Taraba- 46; Yobe- 51 and Zamfara- 42.<\/span><\/p>\n

The PUNCH had reported that selected members of APC have gathered to choose a candidate for next year\u2019s election to replace the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).<\/span><\/p>\n

They are to select a candidate to face 75-year-old Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party among others in the February 25 presidential ballot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buhari, who is stepping down after the two terms he is allowed in the constitution, arrived at the Eagle Square convention centre early in the evening before voting was to start.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nigerian leader has spent days leading up to the convention in negotiations with the APC\u2019s leaders seeking unity over a party candidate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fate of the party depends on what we do here,\u201d APC party chairman Abdullahi Adamu said, echoing Buhari\u2019s call for unity in the ranks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot go into the general election next year without putting our house together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of the APC\u2019s debate over candidates relates to \u201czoning\u201d \u2013 an unofficial agreement among political elites that Nigeria\u2019s presidency should rotate between those from the predominantly Christian south and those from the largely Muslim north.<\/span><\/p>\n

After northern Buhari, observers expected the presidency to go to a candidate from the south.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the PDP \u2013 which held its primary on May 28 and 29 \u2013 chose Abubakar, a former vice president and a political stalwart who is a northern Muslim.<\/span><\/p>\n

The opposition\u2019s choice to ignore \u201czoning\u201d has made the APC reconsider how their candidate will appeal to the north, where voter numbers and participation are traditionally higher.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buhari, who is the leader of the ruling party, has not declared support for any candidate and instructed APC members to \u201callow the delegates to decide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur objective must be the victory of our party and our choice of candidate must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections,\u201d he said last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heavy security was deployed in central Abuja early Tuesday and streets were gridlocked as hundreds of APC supporters wearing the party colours of green, white and red gathered in and around the venue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Copyright PUNCH.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, is leading in the ongoing presidential primary of the party in Abuja. Tinubu won 10 of the 10 boxes sorted so far, obtaining over 750 votes. He is trailed by former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. While Amaechi has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3867,843,5087],"class_list":["post-8736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-apc-primary","tag-bola-tinubu","tag-early-lead"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8738,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8736\/revisions\/8738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}